A Unity game for my custom-made gaming treadmill - how to go about it

I come to seek advice about game design.

Essentially I have a manual treadmill with an arduino that I use to input keyboard commands to the game whenever I move so it's sync'd to the treadmill. It's awesome. I've been playing on it with PC games. The thing is I want to create a game specifically for my treadmill. Maybe just for myself to train or maybe it's something athletes could use as well in the future. Dunno yet. Anyway, I want it to be as interactive as possible. And no to VR at the moment. It's just too dangerous to run on this treadmill with VR (even with a strap).

I was recently inspired by playing Dishonored 2 and having to run fast enough before the gate rolls down (in first 10 seconds) :

I was thinking to do something like that and expand on this idea... like maybe not just doors that are rolling but say giant dominos that slowly fall off and you have to run fast enough to avoid them. Still brainstorming here. And ideally the player wouldn't have to use a keyboard or a joystick or even a mouse. They would just run/walk/stop. Other than a gate closing on you that you have to run fast enough to cross, I would love to know if you have any ideas for me. I also thought to make an olympics style game where you complete in a 100m run or whatever. I think long runs would be boring, and I know a company called Zwift is already doing it. BUT I want to add more interaction, visual stimulants, actions, challenges, possibility of death if you don't make it on time, etc.

Would love to hear suggestions,

-Val

 

That's a really cool project!

What about something like a bridge that collapses at a steady rate as you run across?

Or you could do something like Temple Run — being chased by mad demon monkeys or whatever. Of course the problem is if you're facing forward and it's a first-person view, you can't really see the demon monkeys... But I don't suppose it has to be a first-person view, does it?

 

Oh bridge collapsing is an awesome idea!

Being chased isn't a bad idea either! Pretty damn good actually, come to think of it. Just means I need to give the runner an option to look back. I think maybe just adding a rear-view picture-in-picture sort of thing could work. Brilliant!

Thanks a bunch JoeStrout! Gave me some stuff to think over, appreciate it!

 

I immediately thought of those zombie run audio games you can play while running. But, since you're looking forward, what if you turn the tables and you're the zombie chasing humans?

 

I like the way you think! I guess I can switch around being chased by a monster and chasing as the monster. Could be two separate levels. Thanks Tony This is off to a good start!

 

Perhaps you are a cat... and sometimes you're chasing the mouse, and other times you're being chased by the dog.

(Or substitute any other middle-of-the-food chain situation!)

 

Does it have to be a first-person perspective?

Another feature would be a different experience at different speeds (I'd imagine a "cooler" or more interesting one at a faster speed).

 

The reason I prefer first person is because it makes it feel more immersive, like you're running. It's the closest thing to VR without wearing that clumsy ol' thing. Plus, it would save me time on creating an animating a character, be it a cat a mouse, so that's why I prefer to stick to first person.

Good idea Red sparks coming out of the runner's ass - check

 

First of all, this is cool AF, I love this kind of stuff.

You can do some form of a classic platformer if you can somehow get the "jump" action.
If not - you can do something like a platformer but with ramps instead of jump, this actually gives it potential to be an actual "workout" game if you start designing the levels to a good work out regime in terms of hearth rate.
ofc you can do the same with the chaser thing, just make the runner change speed or whatever.. tho now that I think of it the chaser needs to be given some sort of "motivation" to slow down or it breaks the immersion of the chase, unlike the ramp-platform thing that you need to go at an exact speed for the ramp, you can't just gun it.

I was about to suggest a "chaser" rather then a "runner" but Tony beat me to it, lol.

 

What about flying a plane or being a bird:
When the sky is nice you walk slow , on storm and wind you have to run fast else you are blown away.

Or you could do any scenario following a line or a target:
The line/target indicates where you should be and you lose if you fall behind too much. The speed of the line changes so you have to change your speed too. Also you could add different grounds like water and mud where you move more slowly ingame and so also have to run in real life so that you will not fall behind.

 

Claudia, that's ingenious! I might actually go ahead and do the bird game, so far I didn't get inspired enough to do anything yet but that actually sounds like a lot of fun and not too complicated.

@Sparrows - thank you as well! Gave me a lot to think about.

 

I only yesterday did the first speed test with Unity. I incorporated your replies in this video and will post more stuff once I actually got neater stuff to show

 

Larpushka,

This is genius! I have an Assault Runner, and was looking to do something similar last year but was not smart enough to get it to work. I've watched your Youtube channel and it all looks very promising. Any chance you have the white and black sensor that you used. I'm having trouble locating one.

Also, I train long distances and usually watch movies or series. A story based open world game where you collect items as you walk or run. Then when you are done, you could build/use supplies for next run.

Great work, excited to see where it goes!